-The New Yorker

Previews

Friends & Family opening

Tue Dec 5, 2017 7:30 pm (last press preview)

Benefit Opening night performance

Wed Dec 6, 2017 7:30 pm

Performances

Dec 7 – Dec 23 2017: Tue – Sat 7:30 pm, Sun 3pm matinee

Our newest work, Glass Guignol, is inspired by the complex relationship between Tennessee Williams and his sister Rose. Framed through Williams’ “The Two Character Play,” and interwoven with iconic narrative from many other Williams plays, short stories and poems, Glass Guignol invites us to explore the constellation of questions this fascinating and troubled writer raises through a kaleidoscope of identities, histories, and secrets. Both metaphoric and literal, Glass Guignol explores the nature of the creative process, its triumphs…and its terrors. Indeed, a puppet version of Mary Shelley, who knows a thing or two about fear and monsters, offers real-time commentary via texting.

Glass Guignol is Lee Breuer’s latest work. Since co-founding Mabou Mines’ nearly 50 years ago, he has been delighting, challenging, provoking, and always entertaining audiences all over the world. Maude Mitchell, Breuer’s collaborator on this work, plays ‘the sister’ and Greg Mehrten is ‘the brother,’ both transforming into characters from several Williams works. Added to the mix is Breuer’s always surprising take on classic texts that lead us to new understandings of the writers and ourselves. His exploration of Williams and Shelley is further informed by the philosophies of two of our favorite provacateurs: Marcel Duchamp and Alfred Jarry.

1 of 9

Sam Gibbs, Anthony Leung

Richard Termine

2 of 9

Greg Mehrten, Eamonn Farrell

Richard Termine

3 of 9

Greg Mehrten, Jessica Weinstein

Richard Termine

4 of 9

Maude Mitchell

Richard Termine

5 of 9

Maude Mitchell, Greg Mehrten, Tiappa Klimovitsky

Richard Termine

6 of 9

Greg Mehrten

Richard Termine

7 of 9

Maude Mitchell

Richard Termine

8 of 9

Jessica Weinstein, Greg Mehrten, Eamonn Farrell, Maude Mitchell

Richard Termine

9 of 9

Jessica Weinstein, Greg Mehrten, Maude Mitchell

Richard Termine

SCENE: A state theater of a state unknown – just under the Arctic or above the Antarctic Circle.

TIME: Then and now. Before and after the performance.

Felice: The male star of an acting company on tour. He is a playwright as well as a player but you would be likely to take him for a poet with sensibilities perhaps a little deranged…

Clare: She, like her brother, seems related to a past theatre of actor-managers and imperious stars.

The Brother and Sister Play pretends there are such things as “Literary Readymades”. For example, iconic passages of Williams’ dialogue reframed in an unfamiliar context tell a hidden story of his sister Rose.

Fear, creativity – and monsters, within and without…

Presented by special arrangement with The University of the South, Sewanee, Tennessee.

This program is supported, in part, by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in Partnership with the City Council, The New York State Council on the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Arts, the Axe-Houghton Foundation, and the W Trust.